Wednesday, February 4, 2009

So, I thought I would announce it on here first, and make my first real post on my new blog something of actual importance. There is a very high likelihood(dependent on admission) that I will be transferring to KU (Kansas University) for this coming fall semester. This is a decision I've definitely not come to easily, and has caused a lot of stress. However through prayer and a lot of personal reflection I think I've made the right decision. The future is of course always up in the air, so nothing is definite, but the chances are high.

BYU-Idaho is an amazing school, and I've had experiences that I would have never had without coming here, experiences that I wouldn't trade for anything. There are so many friendships I've made here that I will treasure forever. I wish that I could keep all of the benefits of BYU-I with me when I go, but unfortunately it's not going to happen.

However, let me vent about Rexburg for a moment. I hate this city. Having to drive thirty minutes to get to a Best Buy or a Chili's is really annoying. Everything here is overpriced, they gouge us on everything. The 'dollar' menus here are all $1.39 or higher. The best place to buy anything is Wal-mart which depresses me. The roads never actually get cleared. They plow down to where there's about two or three inches on the road still, which then quickly becomes solid ice, and then they spread this weird reddish-pink clay stuff on the roads instead hoping that it'll actually do something. I don't mind cold weather, I'm accustomed to it actually. It gets colder at home, with humidity, which makes it worse. The fact that I can't drive on cleared roads is what bothers me a lot.

This next thing I'm going to say is not meant to offend my fellow mormons. But sometimes I feel like I'm living in an episode of Leave it to Beaver. There are plenty of exceptions, but for the most part being around some people here make me feel like I'm going to get high off of a sugar overdose.

There's of course something to be said about the small town 'charm.' In my opinion, however, small town charm is meant for vacations and short periods of times. I miss living in a place with history, people, culture, nuance, diversity and so on. I miss the busy traffic of the highway, I miss a faster paced life to which college here doesn't really compare. Here I'm busy, yes, but not fast paced busy...more like drudgery slow that makes me want to put a bullet in my head.

Last but not least, the 'honor' code. Apparently having honor means that I can't be treated like an adult. I don't have the freedoms to be home when I want to or the trust that I can behave myself with members of the opposite sex when not in public. Seriously, college is a time meant to prepare you for life. I had more freedom and responsibility in high school. I feel like I've taken entire steps backward in my personal development because of this handicap. I'm a returned missionary, and a twenty-three year old man, I feel like I can live my own life, making my own decisions. Seriously, if I wanted to, I have a car and could go anywhere I wanted to with a girl, -if- I wanted to. What is the 'chastity line' for again? I can stay up until three or four in the morning and get horrible amounts of sleep, what is curfiew for? Don't even try to tell me it's for 'lessons in obedience.' That's what the commandments are for, the scriptures say so.

So now I've covered the positive side of Rexburg(amazing friends and amazing religious opportunities), and the downsides(read above), now I'll cover the positive sides to KU. The negatives are basically the opposites of BYU-Idaho's positives except that there are amazing people back in Kansas too.

KU provides me with an opportunity to stay close to my family, who I would love to spend a lot more time with. It provides me with the chance to live at home if I wanted to and commute, with midwest gas prices being lower is still a plus in terms of cost. Going to a Kansas college will provide me with a better career start with Kansas City internships or even Kansas Certification if I decide to teach still.

I would gain all the benefits that I feel that I'm missing in Rexburg(my rant of Rexburg above). There's also a chance of me procuring an academic scholarship from KU with my current college GPA.

All in all, I don't feel like this has been a bad choice or experience, like I said earlier I wouldn't trade what's happened these past two years for anything, and also, nothing is concrete yet, but I do feel like it's time to move forward in my life, and I feel like this is the best decision to make right now.

Hello world. I've decided to also succumb. Heaven knows much of my family and many of my friends have blogs now. I decided to give in. We'll see how it goes. I used to have a blog on xanga, and it fizzled shortly after returning from from my mission. Hopefully this one will stay on a little bit longer. I would always have hoped that facebook would turn into a blog of sorts, but it never really included the part that a blog needs...the part where you blog.

So, anyway, I promise no consistency when writing this and not even always the news of my life, but I will attempt to at least post somewhat regularly to give news, thoughts, reactions, and opinions of events in my life and of the world, going off the age-old internet assumption that anyone actually cares. But hey, you're reading my blog so you get to hear what I think. :)

Anywho, I might get back to this later today and post something of substance...after I finish my homework...yeah...homework...